Early returns suggest charter draft in trouble

TBP

Friday

Mar 13, 2009 at 2:00 AM

With the Barnstable Charter Commission’s first public hearing scheduled for just after this week’s Thursday deadline, we solicited our own comments and found no one ready to support the form of government proposed in the preliminary report.

Who We Asked

BARNSTABLE VILLAGE:

SYLVIA DOIRON worked with her late husband, Peter, to collect signatures to begin the charter commission process and has been active in the village. MARCY DUGAS is a Barnstable Village native, has chaired the July 4th parade committee for more than a decade and is active in the village’s re-formed civic association. She also served as one of 11 members on the town council’s charter review committee.

CENTERVILLE: BILL ELKINS served on the 1988-89 charter commission that ushered in the town council/town manager form of government. Before and after that time, he’s been a close follower of town affairs and ran unsuccessfully to serve on the current commission. PETER FISHER stepped down as president of the Centerville Civic Association’s board of directors after five years of service. He remains on the board, but offered his comments as a private citizen.

COTUIT: STEW GOODWIN is president of the Cotuit-Santuit Civic Association. He helped form and served on the now defunct Barnstable Civic League, which sought to share issues of mutual concern among the town’s civic associations. He is also a regular columnist for the Patriot. RON MYCOCK is a native of Cotuit and served as one of 11 members on the town council’s charter review committee. He also serves as chairman of the elected board of fire commissioners for the Cotuit Fire District.

HYANNIS: ALAN GODDARD is a member of the Greater Hyannis Civic Association’s board of directors and served as one of 11 members on the town council’s charter review committee. DAVE BENNETT is a retired Barnstable High School history teacher and board member of the Greater Hyannis Civic Association. His comments were offered as a private citizen.

MARSTONS MILLS: AL BAKER started the signature drive that led to the formation of the current charter commission. He is a life-member of the Marstons Mills Village Association’s board of directors and makes regular appearances before the Barnstable Town Council.

OSTERVILLE: GAIL NIGHTINGALE is a native of Osterville, chairperson of the Osterville Business and Professional association, president of the Osterville Free Library Board of Trustees and served as a member of the Barnstable zoning board of appeals for 34 years.

WEST BARNSTABLE: AUDREY LOUGHNANE is a former town meeting member, 10-year town councilor for Precinct 11, longtime board member of the West Barnstable Civic Association and Barnstable’s former representative to the Cape Light Compact.

With the Barnstable Charter Commission’s first public hearing scheduled for just after this week’s Thursday deadline, we solicited our own comments and found no one ready to support the form of government proposed in the preliminary report.

A sampling: “Deeply disappointed.” “A recipe for disaster.” “There is nothing to be gained.” “The council president would be elected town-wide but he appears to be a figurehead.” “It would be wrong for the people to elect the president.” “I don’t like a hell of a lot of it.”

Not everyone responded, but the answers received suggest that the document 16 months in the making would have a tough time passing in its present form.

Our selections were based partly on geography, covering each of the town’s seven villages, and partly on history. We wanted to find individuals engaged with the town who likely followed the work of the charter commission.

We asked four simple questions:

• Have you read the charter?

• What do you like?

• What’s missing?

• Would you vote for it?

“What do you like?”

Marcy Dugas of Barnstable Village liked the fact that the document was accessible and readily available to all who were looking for it. Of the report’s contents, she found little to recommend.

“I am deeply disappointed in the document itself,” Dugas wrote in her e-mail response. “I believe that it vests too much power in the town council and especially in the town council president.”

Sylvia Doiron of Barnstable Village found one thing to recommend.

“I like the election of the president of the council and a smaller number of councilors,” Doiron wrote in her response. That was something her late husband, Peter, who ran for a position on the commission, had often suggested.

Allen Goddard of Hyannis, who ran for the commission, liked the automatic review provision.

Bill Elkins of Centerville, who did a charter commission stint 20 years ago, saw the move to at-large councilors as “the only part I like.”

Ron Mycock of Cotuit thought the commission did “an excellent job of attempting to produce a document that reaches the middle ground and hence has some chance of passing.” That said, he doesn’t see that the faults in the current charter are worse than those proposed.

David Bennett of Hyannis appeared before the commission as part of the Greater Hyannis Civic Association’s contingent in June, but offered his comments as an individual. He likes the mix of district and at-large councilors, the increase in school committee members from five to seven, the two annual meetings of voters and the regular charter review built into the document.

Al Baker of Marstons Mills was typically blunt. “I don’t like a hell of a lot of it,” he said in a phone interview. “They did improve some things.”

“I don’t mind the school committee going to seven members, but I don’t want to pay them,” Baker said. “The commission included language suggesting that school committee members could be paid. I know they’ve got a tough job, but I’d need to hear more reasons [to pay them]. It would trickle on down to every volunteer we have.”

Gail Nightingale of Osterville liked having some councilors at-large and some from districts.

“I also like having fewer councilors,” Nightingale wrote in her response.

Audrey Loughnane of West Barnstable, a former town councilor, liked the periodic review and required annual meetings with voters.

“What’s Missing?”

The problem for many was summed up in this comment from Goddard: “The problem lies not in omissions but rather the unacceptable material included.”

A majority of those surveyed questioned the wisdom of directly electing the town council president. Peter Fisher of Centerville termed it “a recipe for disaster.”

“It’s been some time since I took Management 101, (or high school civics) but I doubt if having two leaders has ever been recommended for running anything,” the past president of the Centerville Civic Association wrote, referring to the elected president and appointed town manager.

Stew Goodwin of Cotuit had difficulty comprehending the utility of an elected president.

‘“An elected council president makes no sense to me,” he wrote. “I would consider an elected mayor, which at least would have the argument of separation of powers.”

Elkins was more direct.

“There is nothing to be gained, and indeed much to lose, by having an elected council president with added salary and added duties and powers,” Elkins wrote. “This could end up being nothing more than a popularity contest or a position for someone who needs a job!”

Bennett would like to see an elected town administrator “such as a mayor.”

“I understand that the council president would be elected town-wide but he appears to be a figurehead,” Bennett wrote.

Just over half expressed a preference for an elected executive.

“There is no provision for a direct electoral check on the position of chief executive officer and/or mayor,” Goddard wrote.

Nightingale did not believe the council president should be a voting member of the school committee. She also questioned the selection process.

“I also question if the council president should be elected by the voters at large rather than having to be a current council member and being chosen president by the existing council members,” Nightingale wrote. “Election by voters at large could result in a very inexperienced president.”

Loughnane saw a number of shortcomings in the election of the council president, both for the council and those who supported a charter commission.

“I believe it would be wrong for the people to elect the president,” she wrote. “The legislative branch is now accountable to the people. It is my belief that many people who signed the charter petition want to vote yea or nay on a mayor who could be accountable to the people via the ballot box. These people will see much frustration in the proposal.”

Fisher saw a loss of representation for his village in the move to fewer councilors and the district/at-large mix.

“Centerville will likely have one district councilor and that could be the extent of Centerville’s representation on the town council, as the other town councilors will be from other districts or elected at large,” Fisher wrote.

Mycock also saw problems with moving away from precinct representation: “When you ask a voter where they live, how do they answer, Barnstable or Cotuit; I know how I answer, and I think that says it all. As much as we are one town, in my opinion the town is made up of very separate and distinct areas and I for one enjoy the differences.”

Baker and others feared the introduction of money in town-wide campaigns.

“With at-large councilors, wherever they come from they’re gonna be more for that,” Baker said. “I’m scared to death that the business people, the money people, would take over the at-large [council]. It would be a real city-type campaign.”

Doiron’s list of missing items speaks to her desire to have more power sit with voters: elected mayor and deputy mayor, elected tax collector, elected finance board, and reinstatement of recall provisions.

“Where are the checks and balances when the president has so much power?” Dugas asked. She added later, “Not sure I like the language which intermingles the town council president, town manager and the school committee either. Look what they have just done to our schools recently.”

Would You Vote For It?

Baker: “Not if they keep it like it is. I hate to do that. I helped Lucien [Poyant] with the [earlier charter review petition] as much as Greg [Milne] and all helped me with this one. I just can’t support it if it’s got too many things wrong.”

Bennett: “I don't know at this time. My present feelings would be more on the side of against it than for it, but I need to listen to more pros and cons before I make up my mind.”

Doiron: “No, unfortunately I would not vote for it in its present form.”

Dugas: “I will not be voting in favor of it as written.”

Elkins: “No.”

Fisher: “Much time and energy was put forth by the charter commissioners and they are to be commended. However, I would urge voters to turn it down. It is unnecessary so I will not vote for it.”

Goddard: “No.”

Goodwin: “After [publication of the final draft in May] we will hear the presentations and decide whether to ask people to vote it up or down in November.”

Loughnane: “No.”

Mycock: “No … I have not been convinced that the town is broken … the proposed charter consolidates the power to a few; yes, they may be more accountable to the public, but then again they may not be.”

Nightingale: “Not in its present form.”

[DATE CORRECTED] The charter commission’s next hearing is scheduled for March 25 at Barnstable High School's Knight Lecture Hall beginning at 7 p.m.

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